The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea plant, botanically known as Echinacea purpurea, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Little Magnus’.
The new Echinacea is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Zwaanshoek, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new compact Echinacea cultivars with horizontal ray florets.
The new Echinacea originated from a self-pollination made by the Inventor in 1995 of an unnamed Echinacea purpurea selection, not patented. The new Echinacea was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Zwaanshoek, The Netherlands in 1997 from the resultant progeny of the self-pollination. The new Echinacea was selected on the basis of its compact growth habit, attractive ray and disc floret coloration and horizontal ray florets.
Asexual reproduction of the new Echinacea by divisions was first conducted in Zwaanshoek, The Netherlands in 1999. Since then, asexual reproduction by divisions has shown that the unique features of this new Echinacea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.